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Overview

Double centurion eyes final goal

(FIFA.com) Thursday 6 December 2007

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You could be forgiven for thinking that at the age of 30,
Alessandro Rosa Vieira, aka Falcao, was a man fulfilled. Yet the
one title missing from his glittering collection of honours is the
most important of all. The Brazilian futsal star has come close
twice to world glory, only to see his dreams dashed on both
occasions by the same team. And since the second of those
disappointments, Falcao has been patiently waiting for the chance
to exact revenge. The question is, could this be his last tilt at
the most coveted trophy of all?

"Time will tell, but yes, winning the world championship
would be the icing on the cake," the man widely acknowledged
as the world's finest futsal exponent tells
FIFA.com. If a trophy-laden 2007 is anything to go
by, then he is right on course to achieve his goal. In a year in
which Brazil came, saw and conquered, Falcao also finished top
scorer at the Panamerican Games in Rio de Janeiro and in the Grand
Prix for good measure.

A day to rememberIt was against Venezuela on 6 October that the legendary
striker notched his 200th goal in his 150th game in green and
yellow. "It's immensely satisfying to have reached those
figures with the national team," he says. "It's taken
me many years of hard work to get there, a lot of caps and a lot of
happiness too. Naturally, my many team-mates over the years have
contributed to every one of those goals."

A native of San Paolo, Falcao took up the game at the age of 12,
winning his first club title as an 18-year-old. Within a year he
had been called up to the Brazil side although his first
international goal did not come until two years later. The goals
have come thick and fast since then, and the highlights of his
stratospheric career include topping the scoring charts at the FIFA
Futsal World Championship Chinese Taipei 2004 and winning the FIFA
Futsal World Player award that same year.

As if that were not enough, in 2005 the Malwee/Jaragua goal
machine also fulfilled one of his ambitions by switching to the
11-a-side game and turning out for none other than Brazilian giants
Sao Paulo. "It was a very productive year," he recalls.
"I played for a world-famous club, we won the Paulista State
Championship, took part in the [Copa] Libertadores and I learned a
lot of things. All the same, I'm very happy to be back playing
my sport again."

Unfinished businessThe one title that still eludes him is the FIFA Futsal World
Cup. His first near-miss came at Guatemala 2000, where he bagged 6
goals but failed to score in the final as Brazil lost 4-3 to Spain.
Amazingly, Falcao and Co suffered virtually the same fate at
Chinese Taipei 2004. The lethal finisher hit the back of the net 13
times but saw the Spanish dash his team's hopes again, this
time in a penalty shootout in the semis.

One man who was not shocked by Spain's twin triumphs over
the supposed lords and masters of the sport was the Brazilian star
himself. "For the last 20 years or so they've had quite a
few foreigners in their team, particularly Brazilians, and their
league is very organised. It's obvious they were going to
improve. What's more, it's easy for them to get together,
whereas it's harder for us because we've got several guys
abroad."

And just in case the prospect of giving Spain a taste of their
own medicine were not motivation enough, next October's
showpiece event is being hosted on home soil. "Winning the
championship at home would be fantastic for me but also for our
sport, which is played by more than ten million people. It would
help make it even more popular."

Falcao has no doubts he and his cohorts will be ready for the
challenge. "Our preparations are going well but we need to
keep working. I think we'll be the favourites along with Spain
of course, but we'll need to watch out for Russia, Italy,
Portugal and Argentina, who are all coming on very
quickly."

And yet perhaps surprisingly for someone with such a big dream
to fulfil, Falcao would not swap a single one of his goals for the
biggest prize in the sport. "I don't see why I'd want
to do that," he comments. "Of course it's the biggest
title there is, but you can only win it by scoring goals. In fact,
I'm hoping the biggest achievement of my career is still to
come. I'd just love to score in the World Cup final."